Good Friday is the day when we enter into “the reality” that Jesus – our savior, our Lord, our Rabbi and our friend – was betrayed, denied, arrested, spat on, laughed at, whipped, beaten and nailed to a cross and left to die in the heat of the day – naked and practically left all alone.
It is an interesting day to say the least.
It is even more interesting that it is celebrated…if the word “celebration” can even be used here.
Interesting too, because just three short months ago we sang carols celebrating his birth.
And now we hear words like, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Forsaken, I think not, but it probably was exactly how he felt. Abandoned by all.
When we think about his bloody and broken corpse “unstuck” from the cross “we cringe a little.” And rightfully so!
Our minds fill in a lot of the gaps that the scriptures – do not – and we cannot “fathom,” we cannot “imagine” all that actually happened…
“Unbearable!” “Unbelievable!” What humankind is capable of… And we know (of course) that it can get worse! Reality is worse. And now, we do not want to know anymore. So we start to shut down…sometimes enough is enough.
To think that “all of this” was done and endured FOR ME…sheds “new light” on it. To think …that Jesus would go “this far” to save “a fallen humanity…”
It is amazing to think about how “all the individual pieces” had to fall into place.
Jesus had to call Simon, he had to change his name to Cephas…or Peter…or “the rock.” He had to call Judas.
Judas had to be selected by the twelve as the group treasurer – the “keeper of the purse.” His desire for money…
Annas had to step down as High Priest and his son-in-law, Caiaphas had to take over, with Annas still pulling the strings, behind the scenes. It was an unprecedented and turbulent time.
Pontius Pilate had to “stay” in Judea as the Procurator or Royal Governor…and old King Herod had to “sit” on the throne as the “Puppet King” for Rome.
Rome had to “come in” and “occupy” all of Israel and rule with an iron hand or an iron fist. Crucifixions had to become – almost “every day affairs”… completely commonplace.
The disciples had to “walk around” with Jesus for three years time. They had to “see” the goodness of the man and all that he was able to accomplish.
They had to “watch” him feed thousands of people and “see” for themselves the “looks and the expressions” on the faces of the people.
They were the “eye witnesses” that saw him “raise the dead” and “walk on water” and “turn water into wine.” They heard his “words,” his “stories,” his “parables.” They saw his “mighty power.”
And they saw him “in prayer.” They again “witnessed first-hand” his healing of all sorts of people. And they “stood” in horror as he cast out demons.
How could they “flee” from him in his time of need? How could Peter “deny” him…and Judas “betray” him and Thomas “doubt” his resurrection…
And the women, they had to “support him and” the twelve both financially and emotionally. They had to be there for him…every step of the journey.
And then, following Jewish law and his own family custom, “every year” he went up to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover.
Why did he have to “challenge” the powers that be? And why did they “respond to him as they did?”
All these pieces were part of the plan, but who could see it, who knew?
The “donkey ride” into Jerusalem, the “raising” of Lazarus, the “chaos” he caused in the Temple-proper, all of it was meant to happen… There was a time table. It was all in “God’s time.”
Jesus was even meant to “question,” he was meant to “struggle” with it all…and with “the meaning of the messiah.” He had to take into account all of the writings of all of the prophets who came before him. He had to “know them.”
“Political tensions and aspirations” had to fill the air. “Kangaroo courts” were necessary. And even “a rooster” had a role to play. Every part “essential and necessary.” All at the “right time.” And, it all came together on this “ONE DAY.”
We have a God who “sees us” each at our worst, who sees ME at MY worst, and yet he “LOVES US ALL” still…and was willing to come, in some mysterious way, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus had to freely choose to suffer “once and for all,” as the scripture says. And he had to “give his life,” as a ransom for “all.” And that is why this IS “Good Friday!” Jesus died for YOU!
Amen.